Results for “black america”

More than 30 years ago, an Italian music fan with few contacts in the world of black American music decided he wanted to bring his beloved southern soul music to the area of Northern Italy where he lived by promoting a show headlined by one of his favourites, Solomon Burke. From that modest beginning in 1987 has emerged the world’s most prestigious soul music event. For the 31^st time, the Porretta Soul Festival has again recently brought artists and music lovers from all over the world to the small, sleepy spa town in Northern Italy where it is held annually.

Thanks to the team at Shindig! for naming us Best Label of 2016. Also included in their year-end polls were Clearlight, Alice Clark, Ray Stevens, Billy Hawks, Kinked!, Love Hit Me! Decca Beat Girls, Celestial Blues and Let it Be: Black America Sings Lennon, McCartney & Harrison. For full details see pages 24 & 25 of the current issue.

www.shindig-magazine.com

2009

As time goes by, so more friends die. This year saw the deaths of two people very close to Ace - not just on a professional level but even more on a personal one.

Ray Topping died in January, after a long and cruel illness. His emotional connection to vernacular American music could spill over and make him difficult, but his engagement could never be denied. Rarely has anyone pursued a passion with such singularity. That passion was indelibly stamped on Ace Records, running through the company like lettering through a stick of rock. It was Ray who introduced us to the vast wealth of the Modern catalogue and compiled it in depth across LP and CD, a body of work that is his enduring legacy. But he also worked on Starday, Ace US, Combo, Specialty, Duke / Peacock. He put together two fabulous albums of “Jump Blues” from US Decca, one of Old Town blues sides, an Atlantic set that rocked from top to bottom and so, so many others. He had a keen ear for music, matching enthusiasm and boundless interest in his subject to which he brought a great intelligence. Bless him.

2014

We continued exploring Bob Thiele’s fascinating Flying Dutchman label, putting out Gil Scott-Heron’s second and third albums on CD and vinyl. Those records were as important as Marvin Gaye’s and Curtis Mayfield’s in the new wave of black awareness and commentary emerged in the US in the early 70s. Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong may not be the names that immediately spring to mind when talking about this surge of black politically inspired music but the albums they made for Flying Dutchman were, in their own way, part of this new movement. Ellington’s album was a live celebration of a century of inspirational black figures. Armstrong’s was a celebration of the jazz pioneer himself, including ‘Give Peace A Chance’ and a re-cut of ‘What A Wonderful World’ - which Thiele co-wrote.